Soviet Government Demands Russian Church Property in Palestine

January 1, 1924

London (May. 14)

The demand of the Soviet Government for the property of the Russian Church in Jerusalem has been submitted to the Anglo-Russian Conference, still in session here, by the Soviet delegation, according to the report of the “Morning Post.”

The interest of the Soviet Government in the Russian religious institutions in Jerusalem is causing much concern in the circles of the Russian clergy abroad. Metropolitan Antonius, president of the Russian Foreign Church Council, has left Belgrade for Jerusalem for the purpose of meeting there the Greek Catholic Patriarch to discuss with him the ways and means of preventing the Greek Catholic Church property from falling into the hands of the Bolsheviks, who would convert these buildings into centers of Communist propaganda in Palestine.